


We're Onto Something

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Series: Message From the Veins (Rare Pair Week) [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sleeping Together, literally sleeping together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 11:24:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9722156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: Over their years of friendship, Lance and Hunk slept pressed together many times.  All that changed were the places.Until things did change.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by Xagrok

The first time that Hunk slept with Lance, it was about a week into their first year at the Garrison.

It had been a hard adjustment for both of them.  Hunk was anxious, always.  He’d never been so far from home before, and never for so long.  He’d never had classes so hard, already burying them in essays and reports and readings to be done.  He’d covered a wall with a calendar, color coding everything by what was due when, with sticky notes for short term goals underneath.

And then Hunk had failed to meet any of them in the first few days and proceeded to freak himself out into a night of stress baking and crying.

Lance, on the other hand, was having just a hard time adjusting, but he did it in different ways.  He carried himself like he already owned the world, like if he grinned and insisted to everyone around him that he had everything handled, it would magically happen.  Hunk was the only one who saw the way he scrambled through his textbooks, eyes wide and lost at the contents, or saw the way he constantly checked his phone, sending messages to his family and impatient at the time differences between them.  

They didn’t click at first.  Lance’s need for movement and noise clashed with Hunk’s frustration at his lack of progress, nevermind that his goals were way more difficult than he’d originally planned.   Hunk’s quiet fretting and anxious planning only egged on Lance’s own worries, and he glared at Hunk’s carefully organized calendar whenever he came into the room, not liking the huge, neon reminder of everything they’d been thrown into.

They didn’t take much, then.  And, since they lived in the same room, they knew neither of them slept well, either.

After his night of stress baking and fretting, Hunk resolved to get down to business and start actually writing his essays instead of falling down endless research spirals.  So he set up shop in one of the common rooms, hoping the change in scenery (and break from Lance’s loud music habits) would aid his concentration.

That had backfired when Lance had waltzed in as well, carrying a stack of books and his headphones on.  At the sight of Hunk, he frowned.  “Here, too?”

Hunk had frozen, eyes wide.  “Here, what?”

“You!”  Lance frowned, shoulders hunched defensively, and later Hunk would know that meant he was stressed and wanted to cry.  Back then, Hunk had thought it meant he was pissed off.  “Every time I turn around, your everything is everywhere!”

Hunk glanced down at his papers, frowning.  There was no one else in the common room at that hour, so it wasn’t like he was taking up too much space.  At least, he hoped now. Was he?  “If you need space at the table, I can move over,” he offered, but it was a hostile, passive-aggressive offer, made through his teeth.  “And I haven’t taken up that much space, all my stuff is clean-”

Pausing, Lance shook his head hard.  “Not that.  You-”  He let out a frustrated groan and slumped down, still for the first time since Hunk had met him.  “The calendar and the charts and the notes.  It’s like you’re showing off.”

“Showing off what?” Hunk demanded.  “That I have lots of colors of sticky notes?”

“That you  _ get _ this stuff,” Lance shot back.  Then he groaned again.  “Look.  Sorry.  Whatever.  I shouldn’t be pissed that you’re some kind of genius or whatever.  But when you cover our walls with everything you’ve gotten done in the first damn  _ week _ it’s really annoying for those of us who have to take our time, that’s all.”

Hunk drew himself up, prepared to defend his wall calendar with his life, but then he froze.  Lance didn’t know Hunk had been struggling.  He only saw Hunk’s planning, not his doing.

Which was fair, because there wasn’t much doing happening.

“Dude,” Hunk replied, voice suddenly softer.  When Lance looked up, Hunk was able to see the frustrated, wet shine to his eyes.  “That calendar?  I haven’t done  _ anything _ on it.  It was goals.  Ones I didn’t meet.”

Lance paused, picking up his head.  “Seriously?”  Then he snorted.  “That makes sense. I had no idea how you wrote a ten page paper on lab safety resources in like, two days.  I figured it was just ‘cause you were up all night.”

“I was up all night because I couldn’t get the essay done,” Hunk replied.  “And instead I was watching cat videos and trying not to throw up.”

Looking over at Hunk’s mounds of paper, Lance considered.  “Oh.  That what you’re working on now?”

“Yeah.  I have, uh, two paragraphs down.  I think.”

Lance shoved his books away.  “Well, it’s not due until next Friday, and I really, really don’t want to do it today.  I haven’t slept more than four hours in the past week and it’s a stupid essay anyway.  If I write it now, I might tear out my own hair.”

Now that Lance’s chatter wasn’t blustering, Hunk couldn’t help smiling at it.  There was a humor to it he appreciated, an easy, casual tone that made Hunk feel included rather than pushed away.

So Hunk pulled over his bag and offered it to him. “Probably a good idea.  I made cookies.  Want one?”

“Dude, hell yes!”  Lance dug in and bit into one, then let out a soft groan.  “Holy crap.  These are amazing.  I want to marry these cookies.”

Hunk beamed, cheeks pink.  “Yeah?”

“Absolutely.  These don’t deserve to be squandered on essay writing.  I have movies on my laptop.  Want to watch one instead?”

The first time Hunk and Lance slept together, it was shoulders pressed together, cookie crumbs on their laps, as a silly comedy movie played on the tiny laptop screen.

There would be many other times like that, but it was special for being the first.

That time, Hunk dreamed of chocolate chips and sunsets, the waves in time with their soft breathing.

***

“Hunk,” Lance murmured, knocking against the door to his room.  “Hunk!”

Sitting up, Hunk blinked groggily at the door, them stumbled over to tap the console.  The door opened, revealing Lance in a robe and clutching his pillow to his chest.  He looked as exhausted as Hunk felt.  As he stood, Lance leaned to the side, until his shoulder was braced against the doorframe.

Despite that, Lance wasn’t asleep.

Despite feeling just as bad, neither was Hunk.

“What’s up?” He asked, stepping back so Lance could come in.  When Lance did, he nearly stumbled over his own feet, shuffling in the blue lion slippers.

There were slippers for everyone, apparently.  Hunk hadn’t dug his out, yet.  Maybe he should.  Hmm.

“Can’t sleep,” Lance muttered.  “It sounds weird, here.  I don’t like it.”

Hunk could only agree.  The castle sounded like nothing else Hunk had ever been in before.  It didn’t even sound like Earthen ships he’d flown in, if he’d managed to be comfortable enough to spend the night in one.  The hum was the wrong frequency, the clanks echoing in a way that just sounded strange.  Whenever Hunk fully relaxed, a weird noise would startle him out of his doze.

It wasn’t like there was anything they could do about it.  Hunk hadn’t even wanted to bring it up.  Who was he going to talk to?  He and Pidge couldn’t make the ship sound different, or be more familiar.  He wasn’t going to bring it up to Allura and Coran, because... well, for a few reasons, not least of which was that Hunk was still a little nervous around them.  That day of training hadn’t done Hunk any favors in trust.  Then there was Shiro, and there was no way Hunk was complaining to him.  Not only did he clearly not sleep much at all in the first place, but Shiro had adjusted to the same thing on a  _ Galra _ ship.  It felt ridiculous to complain to him.

So Hunk had tried to deal with it himself.

Apparently, so had Lance.

Neither of them had managed.

“Me too,” Hunk admitted.  “I haven’t slept unless it was, like, passing out after training or a fight.”  He shifted on his feet, then winced as some system or another turned out, letting out a rumble like a growl.

That was Hunk’s least favorite noise out of all of them.  Even the one like a screech was better than that.  The growl echoed in the halls, when it was quiet, and it sounded like there was something  _ out there. _  That one hadn’t just kept Hunk up.  It had given him nightmares.

“I tried to drown it out with Pidge’s headphones,” Lance admitted, rubbing his eyes.  “But I can’t steal them every night.  Maybe we can build more?  Can we make stuff?”

Hunk considered that, or at least tried too.  But then his yawned hard enough that his jaw cracked and he gave up.  “Maybe.  When I have a chance.  Dunno when that’ll be.  There’s so much other stuff I need to be working on.”

“Well, you’ll work better on that stuff after you’ve slept,” Lance pointed out, nearly a sulk.  He sat down heavily on Hunk’s bed.  “We just need something louder until we get used to it, that’s all.”

Pausing, Hunk closed his eyes.  “Say that again.  It made me think but I’m really tired.”

“We need something louder until we get used to it, that’s all,” Lance repeated, in the exact same tone.

Finally, it clicked.  “Oh!  There’s music on the ship.  We can play it.  And videos, too.”

Lance’s eyes went wide.  “Yeah?  It’s all in Altean, though, right?”

“The translators should work on it, if it’s audible.”  But Hunk frowned.  “Might be weird for the music.  But there’s all this old footage.  I found some before that were, like, nature documentaries.”

Nodding, Lance jumped to his feet, and then swayed.  Hunk reached forward to grab his arm, and Lance held onto his hands for support.  Then he didn’t let go, and Hunk barely even noticed.  He and Lance were normally touching, anyway, so it didn’t really matter.  “That’s perfect.  Hunk, you giant genius.”

Hunk chuckled, shy but delighted.  “Wish I’d remembered it earlier.”

“Still better than me.  C’mon, that room with the couches has some screens.  We can watch in there.  Can we bring your blanket?”

Nodding, Hunk pulled his blanket off the bed, draping it over his shoulders like a cape.  Then he grabbed his own pillow and shuffled off after Lance, hands still wound together.

That night, they slept like that had that first time, shoulder to shoulder, warm against each other’s sides as a video droned on without them.  This time, they woke up sprawled together, Lance draped against Hunk’s side and arms wrapped warm and comfortable around Hunk’s shoulders.

If that maybe made Hunk’s heart pang, if he maybe wanted to do it more often and see Lance’s bleary, morning expression warm into a smile at the sight of him, that was a personal issue.

It wasn’t the first time they slept together, but it finally made it a tradition after hard times.  Sometimes they were alone, and sometimes they were joined by others.  First Pidge joined in, lowly muttering back to the video about the different fauna of Altea.  Then it was Keith, dragged in to make him suffer with them as they all tried to understand some comedy sketch group and utterly failed to grasp it.  And finally Shiro would join them, late at night when he’d no doubt been woken by his personal demons.  He’d curl up in the comfy chair on his own, wary of contact in his sleep, and his snores were often enough to drown out half the castle’s noise on their own.

But even when they had company, Hunk and Lance fell asleep pressed together, limbs tangled.

And every time, Hunk dreamt of rainstorms and of soft light, chasing but never truly bothered when he didn’t catch it.

***

Hunk dreamt of fire, of mocking laughter and claws.  He dreamt of seeing the black, crackling energy racing toward him, no matter what direction he turned in.  He dreamt of cold, seeping into his bones, or crunches that felt like they were coming inside.

Hunk woke up, and the world was green.

Then the glass doors of the pod opened, and he stumbled out, still shivering.

“Hunk!”  Lance scrambled to his feet, eyes wide and wet.  He looked  _ terrible _ , rumbled and dirty in a way that Hunk wasn’t used to seeing.  Lance had his vanity, was finicky with his appearance as Hunk was with his projects.

Reaching out to him, Hunk found himself with an armful of shaking Lance.  He held on tight, still shaken from his dreams, not quite sure what was going on.

Wait, pod.  Injury.  The last mission, when they’d attacked a Galra-controlled planet.  They had expected the normal defenses, and halfway through discovered that Haggar had been there.

Hunk had been running for his lion when he’d suddenly heard them all yelling for him in his comm, when he’d smelled the crackling, awful scent like ozone.  He’d beet feet from the Yellow Lion when something had hit him in the back, hot and burning.

The lion must have saved him, but Hunk couldn’t remember a thing after that.

From Lance’s reaction, it must have been bad.

Hell, from how awful Hunk felt, he could have guessed the same thing.

Squeezing him tighter, Hunk leaned back against the pod for support.  “Hey, I’m okay.  I’m sorry.  I’m okay, you guys got me out.”

“The Yellow Lion-” Lance’s voice broke.  “Yeah.  We did.”

Holding onto him tightly, Hunk closed his eyes.  One of the hardest things about being on a team was knowing how problems rippled.  When someone was hurt, it hurt everyone.

It was even worse when Hunk was hurting Lance.

Actually, speaking of the team.  “What time is it?” He asked softly.  Normally, everyone made a point to crowd the pod when someone came out.  It had occasionally backfired, when someone woke up still ready to fight whatever had taken them down, but it was nice.  Thoughtful.  It was always helpful to see how many people cared when someone woke up.  Part of the ritual of it, the aspect of community.

But today, it was only Lance.

Sniffing, Lance pulled back and cleared his throat.  “Sorry, I shouldn’t have been leaning on you.  You’re injured, don’t let me do that.”

“The pod let me go, so I’m fine,” Hunk replied softly.  “Don’t worry about it.  You’re hurting.”

Lance shot him a look so bland it nearly made Hunk pull back.  “So are you,  _ and _ you’re injured.  So you win.  We’re getting you to bed.  As for everyone else...”  Lance bit his bottom lip, suddenly looking shy.

Shy Lance was such an oddity that Hunk blinked, knocked off balance.  Had there been a fight?  “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine. No problems.  I asked them to.  I wanted a minute.  I had a plan.”  Lance scowled and sighed.  “Then you came out and I forgot my plan.  Dammit.”

Okay, Hunk was really, really lost.  “Why did you need a plan?”

“I was gunna... we need to talk.  But not here.  Can we go to your room?”  A talk?  Why did that sound so  _ ominous? _  But Hunk nodded and let Lance slide under an arm, helping support his weight.  

As they walked, Hunk went back and forth, torn between nerves and curiosity.  Finally, the latter won.  “Talk about what?”

“I need to tell you something,” Lance said, not glancing over, gaze straight ahead with the type of concentration he normally shared for looking into his gun’s sight.  “But I don’t want to do it when you look like you’ll keel over.”

Hunk huffed.  “I’m not gunna, but fine, fine.  Torture me longer.”

“Oh, you’ll live,” Lance replied, an automatic response.  Then he paled.

That said more than any words could have about how close Hunk had been to not making it.  

Which was terrifying.  But not just terrifying to Hunk.  So he squeezed Lance closer.  “I will.  I’ll just whine the whole way.  You’re not getting off the hook that easy.”

He got a flash of a smile back, amused but not comfortable. Hunk settled in to wait.

Finally, when Hunk was put down on his bed, Lance stood in front of him.  He took a deep breath, then let it go.  Repeated it.  Started to pace.  “Um, so.  I wanted to... It was just...”

“Maybe start from the beginning?” Hunk suggested.

“That was a really long time ago,” Lance replied blandly.  “That stupid calendar.  I still think that thing was the worst.”

It took Hunk a moment to remember what Lance was talking about, then his brow furrowed.  From that first semester?  What went back  _ that _ far?

Well, their friendship, for one.

“Okay, um.  Earlier.  At the mission.  When you were hit, and the Yellow Lion got you.  There was a second where your suit was on the fritz from the blast, and we thought... well, we thought there weren’t any bio signs.”  Lance finally stopped in front of Hunk again, scrubbing his hands over his face.  “And I was just thinking, over and over, that I was an idiot.  Because it hit me that of all the things we’ve shared, keeping this one secret... it wasn’t worth it.  I wanted to be honest with you.  And I thought I was never going to have a chance again.  And now I have it, so I’ve got to take it, you know what I mean?”

Hunk blinked at him.  “No?  Lance, I’m really confused.  What secret?”

For a moment, Lance stared at him, hands working at his side.  Then he let out a frustrated groan and leaned down.  He cupped Hunk’s chin in his hands, and tilted his head up to kiss him.

Not a peck on the cheek, not the friendly nuzzling they were both fond to doing to each other.  Not the playful flopping and long hugs.  A full on kiss.

Lance wanted to  _ confess. _

Holy shit.

Reaching out, Hunk grabbed onto Lance and returned the kiss with as much energy as he could spare, pulling him down onto the bed with him.

“I wanted to tell you that I love you,” Lance said.  “In more ways that I’ve said before.”  He licked his lips, looking shell shocked.  “And, uh, I was going to say ‘it’s not gunna change anything’ here, or ‘it’s okay that you don’t’, but guess that’s not a problem.”

“It’s not,” Hunk confirmed, beaming back.  “It’s really not.  And I want to keep kissing you, but that pod really is restful and I kinda of want to collapse, too.  Um.  Can you stay?”  He paused, then blushed.  “Not like- I’m way too tired for that.  But sleeping.  Together. In a bed.  Can we do that?”

Lance nodded.  “Good luck removing me, dude.  I mean, if you wanted to, I would.  But not- screw it.  Yes.  I want to be here.”

That night was the first night they fell asleep trading kisses.  Not the first time at all, not the first time holding each other close, but the first time  _ knowing _ that the other felt that way.

And Hunk dreamt of soft rainfall, putting out the burning fires.  He dreamt of rivers flowing full down mountains, bringing life to the rock.

He dreamt of blankets and couches, movies and documentaries.  Of arms wrapped around him.

Hunk dreamt of Lance.

And he knew Lance dreamt of him too.


End file.
